Westbrook has 61 new apartments for older adults, and the folks who built them got there with a trick worth stealing. Avesta Housing cut the ribbon on Seavey Crossing at 57 Clover Lane on Wednesday, Sept. 30, and leasing is open now.
Every apartment is a one-bedroom for households where the head or co-head is at least 55, and they run 550 to 650 square feet. According to the Seavey Crossing leasing page, 37 apartments rent for $1,304 a month to households at or below 50% of the area median income, and 24 rent for $1,565 to households at or below 60%. Thirteen apartments are subsidized, with rent set at about 30% of household income. (TV coverage rounded the range a little differently, from about $1,300 to $1,500 or $1,600.)
MaineHousing says those 13 subsidized units are set aside for people with disabilities, survivors of domestic violence or others with special housing needs, and they carry project-based vouchers. The building has 19 accessible apartments, two of them equipped for residents who are hearing or visually impaired, plus a community room, office, laundry room and parking. It was financed with 2024 federal 9% low-income housing tax credits, with CREA, LLC as the investor, according to MaineHousing's October board report.
How Hebert built it
Here's the part contractors will want. Lewiston-based Hebert Construction built Seavey Crossing for Avesta, and it leaned on prefabricated wood panels for the walls, elevator shafts, floors and roofing. Simons Architects of Portland designed the building.
In a Mainebiz article that Hebert reposted on its own website last November, project manager Zach Whisman said the panels came from Atlas Structural Systems in New Brunswick, Canada.
"Traditional wall panels are 8- to 9-feet maximum. Atlas has the ability to provide panels over 20 feet long where practical. Longer panels mean fewer walls needing to be set, speeding up the construction schedule," Whisman said.
The floor and roof panels showed up with sheathing already nailed and glued, trusses spaced and joist hangers installed, which Whisman said cut three processes out of the field. Hebert also panelized the elevator shaft walls. "We have found that panelized elevator shaft walls are more cost-effective than concrete elevator shafts," he said.
Getting the building closed in fast meant less weather exposure and less mold risk. "Less time is spent with snow removal, and subsequent trades mobilize earlier," Whisman said. "The result is an accelerated framing schedule which allows for much-needed housing to be provided in a shorter time span."
That same article described Seavey Crossing as a 55,000-square-foot building and put total development costs at an estimated $21.4 million. Hebert knows the block well. It also built Seavey Terraces, a 65-unit building next door that's leased to University of New England graduate students and staff, and it's a partner with Avesta and developer Jack Soley in Domus, which was breaking ground on the 45-unit Clover Terraces condominium building at the same location last fall.
Why older Mainers need it
At the ribbon cutting, MaineHousing Director of Development Laurie Warzinski put a number on the squeeze renters are feeling. "Across Cumberland County, the typical renter is facing affordability gaps throughout the past decade, and the gap is widening from 2022 to 2024 alone," she said, according to WMTW. "The difference between the typical household income and the income needed to afford a typical rental grew from about $6,000 to $15,000."
Ashley Perrone of the Southern Maine Area Agency on Aging called the building "61 new opportunities for older adults to have a safe, stable and comfortable place to call their own." Westbrook Mayor David Morse said he often hears from seniors who worry about having to leave town when they give up their homes. "They would like to stay here," he said.
Avesta says the building has easy access to health care, dining, shopping and other services.
Why it matters for Contractors
Seavey Crossing is a good look at how Maine builders are fighting the weather and the calendar on multifamily jobs. Long prefab wall panels, floor and roof cassettes with sheathing and hangers already on, and panelized elevator shafts all cut field labor and get a building dried in sooner, which lets roofers, window installers and MEP subs mobilize earlier. If you frame or manage multifamily work, it's worth pricing panelized systems against stick framing on your next bid. And with the same partners behind the Clover Terraces condos that broke ground on the same campus last fall, it's worth keeping an eye on what Avesta, Hebert and Soley do next.